In "Poetry for Children" we have again a work for which brother and
sister were jointly responsible, and again--though we cannot exactly
allot the parts--Charles, as we learn from his letters, wrote but
about one third of the whole. Three years after publication the two
small volumes in which this work had been issued were out of print,
though a number of the pieces were included by the publisher in a
"Poetry Book" compilation. In 1827 Lamb wanted a copy and could not
get it, indeed the little work had disappeared in the most complete
fashion, and another half century was to pass before a copy was to be
recovered, and then it came from Australia, closely followed by one of
an American edition, "pirated" in 1812. It is strange that Charles and
Mary Lamb, "an old bachelor and an old maid," as he put it, should
have been so successful as caterers for children. That they were
successful there is no doubt, and there is no reason why this "Poetry
for Children" of theirs should not--now happily recovered in its
entirety--go on pleasing and influencing many generations of young
readers; that they _do_ please the little ones of to-day I have
readily proved. The verses are on the simplest themes, set forth in
varied metres, but chiefly such metres as children can most readily
remember, and though they are for the most part didactic, they are
didactic in a way which the child does not resent. There is no telling
a tale and then trying to enforce a moral from its consideration, but
the moral is a natural part of the whole, and doubtless has its
healthy effect.
"Prince Dorus" is a pleasant little story in easy verse, telling of a
king who fell in love with a great Princess, but was in despair
because his love was not requited:
"This to the King a courteous Fairy told
And bade the Monarch in his suit be bold;
For he that would the charming Princess wed,
Had only on her cat's black tail to tread,
When straight the Spell would vanish into air,
And he enjoy for life the yielding fair."
At length he succeeds in this seemingly simple exploit, and in place
of the cat there springs up a huge man who foretells that when married
the King shall have a son afflicted with a huge nose, a son who shall
never be happy in his love:
Till he with tears his blemish shall confess
Discern its odious length and wish it less.
It is a pleasant little story marked with Lamb's keen sense of humour.
"Beauty and the Beast" is a booklet in verse for young readers. It was
published shortly after "Prince Dorus," and is believed--though the
evidence as to authorship is inconclusive--to have been written by
Charles or Mary Lamb. It is a simple rendering in Hudibrastic verse of
a familiar nursery story. Perhaps a very slight piece of evidence in
favour of the Lamb authorship may be found in the fact that it shares
with "Prince Dorus" the sub-title, "A Poetical Version of an Ancient
Tale."